An experimental research study is the first to directly show harm to songbirds, extending the known impacts of neonicotinoids beyond insects. This has been reported by Damian Carrington, Environment Editor of The Guardian. The world's most widely used insecticide may cause migrating songbirds to lose their sense of direction and suffer drastic weight loss, according to new research. The work is significant because it is the first direct evidence that neonicotinoids can harm songbirds and their migration. Farmland birds have declined drastically in North America in recent decades and pesticides have long been suspected of playing a role. The first evidence came in 2014 when a study in Holland found bird populations fell most sharply in areas where neonicotinoid pollution was highest. Three neonicotinoids were banned from use on flowering crops in the European Union in 2013 due to unacceptable risks to bees and other pollinators and a total outdoor ban is being considered. Now Canada is considering a similar ban. The research analysed the effect of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid on White-crowned Sparrows, as pictured here, that migrate from the southern US and Mexico to northern Canada in summer. Birds were given doses equivalent to less than a single corn seed and within hours became weak, developed stomach problems and stopped eating. They quickly lost 17-25% of their weight and were unable to identify the northward direction of their migration. Professor Christy Morrissey, at the University of Saskachewan says seed sowing coincides with when birds are migrating north, exposing them to harm. They (the pesticides) are applied in spring which overlaps exactly the time when they are moving north and are stopping in agricultural fields to refuel along their way.
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